


Just a Favor

by Yume_Onata



Category: Free!
Genre: Comfort, Friendship/Love, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 06:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6791005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yume_Onata/pseuds/Yume_Onata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke pays Haru a visit on behalf of Rin. Haru convinces Sousuke to stay for dinner. They both realize something in the process.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just a Favor

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta’d, so all mistakes are my own. I wrote this quite a while back when my thirst for SouHaru got to a breaking point, so I just decided to do something rather short and sweet. (There's also a sprinkling of RinHaru and SouRin in here, too.)
> 
> Hopefully I portrayed the characters well enough. Enjoy.

Haru isn’t completely sure why it all happened the way it did.

The only thing he comprehends is the sight of Yamazaki Sousuke standing in the doorway of his apartment, backpack slung over one shoulder, hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants. Although he tries to look indifferent, Haru can tell by the furrowing of his brows and the downward tilt of his mouth that he doesn't enjoy doing this any more than Haru enjoys seeing him.

“Rin asked me to check up on you,” is all Sousuke says.

Haru frowns, realizing that the other male couldn’t have possibly known where he was living without some intervention on Makoto’s part. Despite any reservations, Haru respects Rin enough not to slam the door in Sousuke’s face. He hesitates, blue gaze flitting to Sousuke’s right shoulder briefly. An awkward beat passes before Haru decides to step aside, the creak of the door on its hinge loud in the silence.

“Come in.”

Haru watches the way Sousuke’s expression morphs, the invitation seemingly perturbing him.

“I shouldn’t,” Sousuke finally says.

“I made mackerel,” Haru tries to reason. He knows people don’t like mackerel as much as he does, but it’s relatively late into the evening, and if Sousuke hasn’t had anything to eat yet, he’s probably hungry by now. In the end, it’s the promise of food that wins out, and when the taller male crosses the threshold of space separating them to enter the apartment, it’s the first they’ve been in such close proximity to one another without a sense of hostility. Haru recalls the time when Sousuke cornered him against the vending machine, and it's strange to him how much his heart quickens at the memory.

After Haru has cleared his homework from the table and proceeds to set out the food, they begin a conversation about Rin, the person who has given them this moment, creating a bridge to connect the gap between the two of them. While Haru isn’t the conversational type (he’s relied on Makoto far too much to try figure out he how he’s feeling most of the time), he finds it easy to comment on Rin as Sousuke stands behind him, hip against the wall and shoulders crossed over his broad chest. Haru is careful not to inquire anything about Sousuke himself or his health. Makoto had told Haru once over dinner that Sousuke attended the same university that he did, and he had seen him roaming the halls on more than one occasion, nose stuck behind books on physical therapy.

“You really care for Rin, don’t you?” Sousuke finally says in a contemplative manner.

Haru sets the last of the dishes on the table (slices of pineapple) and turns to Sousuke. He blinks.

He remembers being afraid, of traveling to a country where he barely knew the language, where he could do nothing but follow the one constant he had, head full of red hair leading him, Haru unconsciously trusting Rin to take him where he needed to be. He remembers Russell and Lori, Rin’s host parents, and how kind and welcoming they were to him, how they doted on Rin and showed Haru that home was wherever one could make it. Haru remembers the hotel room, the small bed they shared, Rin expressing his feelings in the cover of darkness, his sincerity touching Haru someplace he thought he’d never find again in the midst of scrambling to find his own dream.

He remembers how bright Rin was in his nightmare, and how afraid he had been to look into that light.

“I do,” Haru answers, and for his honesty he earns a small smirk from Sousuke.

“The guy never shuts up about you. Ever. Message after message, and it’s ‘Nanase this,’ or ‘Nanase that.’ If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was in love with you.”

Haru sits in the chair, prompting Sousuke to make himself comfortable in the one directly across. It’s strange, not seeing Makoto there, but black hair and teal eyes instead.

“I’m not in love with Rin. He’s just a friend.”

When Sousuke places his elbow on the table and rests his chin in his hand, Haru turns away from the sight.

“It’d break his heart to hear you say that, Nanase. Don’t tell me,” he trails off, helping himself to a serving of food, “that you have a thing for Tachibana.”

Haru clenches his fists around his chopsticks. “No, I don’t.”

Sousuke shows genuine surprise at his statement. “No?”

“No,” Haru repeats more firmly.

It isn’t like he hasn’t thought about it. Haru has always believed both girls and boys were good looking, never really questioned his affinity for big shoulders or slender ones. There are a few female students at his school who are enamored with him, and a few male students who have offered to take him out for food during breaks or after classes.

“You’re not unpleasant to look at,” Sousuke comments off-handedly, expression neutral. The way he words it makes Haru bristle for more than one reason.

“What about you and Rin? Don’t you like him?” Haru asks as he piles pineapple on top of his mackerel.

“I don’t think it’s mutual.” For some reason, Sousuke sounds almost sad. Distant.

Haru plays with a grain of rice on his tongue before he speaks again. “When your shoulder heals properly, you’ll be able to ask him in person.”

There’s a sudden clatter, and it takes a moment for Haru to realize that Sousuke has narrowly missed dropping his own bowl of rice. Haru stops short, his penchant for speaking his mind to Makoto at nearly every opportune moment giving him little in the way of a proper filter for his words. Sousuke is different, he knows, but the ease is oddly there. 

Sousuke doesn’t talk for what seems like the longest moment in Haru’s life.

“…I’m going to disappoint him,” he says quietly, the pain and guilt on his face startling Haru.

“It’s your life,” Haru finds himself replying. “You should do as you please with it. Rin will be proud either way.”

When Haru’s gaze meets Sousuke’s, there’s something there that he can’t quite place.

“You really believe that?” His voice is small, much too small for his intimidating size.

“Yeah.”

As a smile slowly spreads across Sousuke’s face, Haru doesn’t miss the way his heart clenches.

“I knew there was a reason Rin liked you so much. I may have to change my opinion about you.”

Haru scoffs at his statement. “Don’t do me any favors.”

Sousuke’s laughter fills the apartment, and Haru wonders if this is how the others had felt after they’d attacked him with a volley of tickles in the Iwatobi changing room, breaths catching in their throats.

“My opinion isn’t for your benefit,” Sousuke explains with an amused tone. “Although, it can be, depending on how you look at things.”

Haru tries to take a swig of water, and he winces at how much difficulty it gives him going down.

The rest of the dinner passes pleasantly enough, and by the time Sousuke decides to leave, the clock reads half-past one in the morning. Haru watches him as he collects his backpack, and when he slips on his shoes and places his hand on the knob at the door, he pauses to shoot a glance in Haru’s direction.

“Thanks for the dinner, Nanase.”

“You’re welcome,” Haru replies evenly.

“I’ll come and check up on you again.”

Haru wants to say something clever in return, but nothing particular comes to mind.

“Okay,” is all he says instead, and he almost swears that Sousuke is grinning smugly on the inside.

“Good night.”

“’Night, Yamazaki.”

When Sousuke steps through the door, Haru follows his outline for as long as it stays in his vision.

Later, as Haru settles in for bed, hand flicking off the light on his nightstand and leaving him to the night, he plays their exchange over and over in his head, treading it experimentally like a new body of water.

As his eyes close and he starts to drift off, he concedes that maybe he wouldn’t mind having Sousuke visit again.


End file.
